The Irish Council Against Blood Sports has expressed outrage at the proposed Animal Health and Welfare Bill 2012. A draft published today by the Department of Agriculture exempts some of Ireland's worst acts of cruelty to animals - foxhunting and hare coursing.

While the Bill sets out to protect animals from cruelty and unnecessary suffering, stating among its provisions that to terrify or bait an animal is prohibited by law, it then chooses to exempt hare coursing, which most certainly constitutes baiting and terrifying an animal, and causing it unnecessary suffering! If it were not obviously cruel, it would not have to be specially exempted, nor would other forms of hunting wild animals with dogs.

This exemption has existed since 1911. One hundred and one years later, these cruel activities are again exempted! Why? What hold do those who carry on such cruelty have over our governments down the years and our elected representatives, despite the fact that the vast majority of our citizens abhor this cruelty?

Only two weeks ago, ICABS filmed, over three days, hares being mauled at a coursing meeting in Limerick. See our footage at

We have sent these video clips to all our elected representative along with an appeal for them to support a ban.

Hare coursing has been outlawed in England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland, leaving our Republic as the last outpost of this backwoods barbarism.

With the bill also exempting foxhunting, hunters will be free to continue using packs of hounds to chase foxes to exhaustion and rip them to pieces.

We say "Shame on this Fine Gael and Labour Government" for turning a blind eye to the suffering being caused in hunting and coursing and publishing a bill which seeks to allow them to continue. The Irish Council Against Blood Sports is calling for these farcical exemptions to be removed and for hares, foxes and all wild animals to finally be given the protection they deserve.

If you prefer to post a letter to your TDs, address your correspondence to:

Dail Eireann, Leinster House, Kildare Street, Dublin 2.

Urgently contact An Taoiseach Enda Kenny and An Tanaiste Eamon Gilmore. Ask them to show compassion for foxes and hares and use the Animal Health and Welfare Bill 2012 as an opportunity to finally ban cruel coursing and foxhunting.

From 1911 to 2012, Ireland's wildlife has been betrayed by 101 years of animal "protection" laws that have shamelessly facilitated foxhunting and hare coursing. And now, in a proposed new Animal Health and Welfare Bill, legislators are again trying to shield some of our country's worst animal abusers to allow them continue with their cruelty.

Protection of Animals Act, 1911:

"Nothing in this section shall render illegal any act lawfully done under the Cruelty of Animals Act, 1876, or shall apply...(b) to the coursing or hunting of any captive animal, unless such animal is liberated in an injured, mutilated, or exhausted condition; but a captive animal shall not, for the purposes of this section, be deemed to be coursed or hunted before it is liberated for the purpose of being coursed or hunted, or after it has been recaptured, or if it is under control and a captive animal shall not be deemed to be coursed or hunted within the meaning of this subsection if it is coursed or hunted in an enclosed space from which it has no reasonable chance of escape." Section 1 (3)(b)

Protection of Animals (Amendment) Act, 1965:

The following section was inserted after Section 1 (3)(b) of the Protection of Animals Act, 1911 (see above)

"[Nothing in this section shall apply]...(c) to the commission or omission of any act in the course of the coursing, hunting, pursuit, capture or destruction or attempted destruction of any wild animal unless such commission or omission is accompanied by or involves the infliction of unnecessary suffering." Section 4(d)

Animal Health And Welfare Bill 2012:

"Nothing in this section applies in relation to anything which occurs in the ordinary course of (a) fishing, (b) lawfully hunting an animal, unless the animal is released in an injured, mutilated or exhausted condition, or (c) coursing a hare, unless the hare is hunted or coursed in a space from which it does not have a reasonable chance of escape." Section 12 (12) Prohibition on animal cruelty.

03. Hares terrorised, hit and mauled at Limerick coursing meet

Footage obtained by ICABS at a coursing meeting in County Limerick shows hares desperately trying to escape from greyhounds. In a series of videos, we expose the continuing cruelty of coursing - hares are chased, hit and mauled.

We saw hares running in terror before greyhounds. There were at least eight incidents where hares were hit by the dogs, pinned and mauled. We witnessed injured hares being carried off the field - this indicates that the creatures are no longer able to walk or run, often resulting in the creatures dying or being destroyed.

The footage was filmed during the Irish Cup coursing meet which was held at Limerick Racecourse at the end of February. Irish Council Against Blood Sports monitors were present for the three days of this barbaric activity, which is outlawed in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.

04. Petition: Urge Enda Kenny to back coursing ban

Please sign the Change.org petition calling on An Taoiseach, Enda Kenny, to back a ban on hare coursing in Ireland.

The management of Limerick Racecourse have been asked to view footage of hares being hit and mauled at the venue last month and stop hosting the blood sport.

In an email to Limerick Racecourse General Manager, Russell Ferris, we highlighted that during the Irish Cup coursing meet on February 24-26, Irish Council Against Blood Sports monitors witnessed hares being struck, tossed, pinned and mauled into the ground.

"It is deplorable that Limerick Racecourse is happy to host one of Ireland's worst examples of cruelty to animals - an activity which brings shame on Ireland, being one of the last countries in the world to permit it," we stated.

ICABS has also brought our concerns to racecourse sponsors Heineken, Spin Radio and the Daily Mirror and urged them to act.

The Head of Corporate Communications at Diageo Ireland has assured ICABS that they do not support or condone hare coursing. Rhonda Evans was responding to an ICABS appeal for a Guinness advertising banner to be removed from any future coursing events at Limerick Racecourse.

In an email, we told Diageo that the Guinness banner was in-situ for the entire weekend of coursing held in February at the racecourse. We brought to the company's attention video footage showing hares being hit and mauled by greyhounds at the venue.

We understand that the sponsorship department of Diageo will be in contact with the management of Limerick Racecourse regarding the withdrawal of the banner.

Specsavers has been thanked for requesting the removal of an ad banner from coursing venue, Limerick Racecourse. The move follows an ICABS appeal in which we highlighted appalling cruelty to hares during a coursing meet there in February.

Specsavers' Crescent Shopping Centre branch in Dooradoyle was contacted after the banner was spotted on display during the so-called Irish Cup coursing weekend last month.

A spokesperson told ICABS in a letter that they neither "promote nor condone any activity that involves cruelty to animals" and that they are "deeply shocked - and deeply upset - that Specsavers is even remotely associated with the event in question".

They further stated that they asked the racecourse management why their hoarding was used without their permission at the coursing meet, given that the last event they had sponsored at the racecourse was a Ladies Day in 2008.

The advertising banner has now been taken down, at Specsavers' request. ICABS very much welcomes this positive response.

Senator David Norris has said that the Irish Council Against Blood Sports campaign has his "full support". The former presidential candidate has also expressed his intention to challenge the exemption of blood sports in the newly published draft Animal Health and Welfare Bill.

A long-time supporter of the campaign, Senator Norris has previously condemned hare coursing as an "obscenity" that is "indefensible".

"We must do something to root out the horrible practice of live hare coursing," he has stated. "There is simply no justification for it if we are concerned about the welfare of small animals. I believe it is bad for the moral welfare of the people who watch the sport. No decent person should take pleasure from the hunting to death of a small, frightened animal."

He has also spoken out against foxhunting, saying the spectacle is attractive but "not for the fox".

ICABS thanks Senator Norris for his continued support. We are calling on all Senators to challenge the Animal Health and Welfare Bill when it appears in the Seanad.

"Fe**" animal rights activists - the words of a pro-hunt restaurateur who wrote in the Sunday Times this month that she has been involved with the Ward Union for years.

Gillian Ronan - owner of the Town Bar and Grill restaurant on Dublin's Kildare Street and a sister of Treasury Holdings' Johnny Ronan - wrote in the "My Week" column on 11th March that "we used to hunt back home and since coming to live in Dublin years ago, we've been involved with the Ward Union, which is a stag hunt."

She added: "Someone recently said to me 'you shouldn't be giving that information to people because the animal rights activists might not like it.' Well, fe** them. How many animal rights activists are coming in to support my restaurant?"

The Ward Union's cruel deer hunting activities were banned two years ago. The Wildlife Amendment Act 2010 states that "a person who hunts deer with two or more dogs shall be guilty of an offence."

In 2004, Ward Union member, Johnny Ronan, was described by Star Sunday as one of Ireland's "powerful millionaire business moguls who get their kicks hunting terrified animals".

10. Hare desperately tries to escape from a coursing enclosure

Video footage filmed by ICABS has captured the moments a hare tries desperately to escape from a coursing enclosure. The creature made the bid for freedom after being chased by greyhounds.

Our footage shows the hare running back and forth alongside the barrier fence at coursing venue, Limerick Racecourse, before leaping up against an STL Logistics advertisement board. The attempt to get free is unsuccessful and the hare falls back to the ground.

ICABS has asked STL Logistics to join our call on Limerick Racecourse to stop hosting coursing. We have also forwarded this footage and other cruelty scenes filmed at the venue to Minister Simon Coveney who has so far resisted demands for the blood sport to be banned.

ICABS welcomes a statement from the office of Waterford TD, John Halligan, which outlines that he would be "in favour of any proposal to have [bloodsports] banned."

The 14th March statement confirms that Deputy Halligan would back a ban as he "would consider blood sports to be a form of animal cruelty".

The Independent politician has previously stated: "I believe that hunting animals for pleasure is wrong." A spokesperson has also stressed that "Mr Halligan is completely and utterly against any form of animal cruelty."

A big thumbs up to Deputy John Halligan for publicly denouncing blood sports and giving his backing to a ban.

ACTION ALERT

Contact all your local TDs now. Tell them you are one of the majority who want coursing and hunting banned. Urge them to publicly express opposition to these cruel activities and push for a ban. Please let us know about feedback you receive.

If you prefer to post a letter to your TDs, address your correspondence to:

Dail Eireann, Leinster House, Kildare Street, Dublin 2.

Please also arrange a face-to-face meeting with your TDs.

12. Appeal for poll to be pulled

ICABS has called on Journal.ie to pull an online poll after it emerged that coursers are being urged to distort the result by cheating. A greyhound-related website has displayed instructions on how to vote multiple times, with one individual admitting to having cast at least ten votes.

The cheating revelations must lead to the "Should hare coursing be banned?" poll being closed and the result declared invalid, we stated in an email to Journal.ie.

We drew the news website's attention to posts on a greyhound and coursing forum, including one which says "Lads, If you go to your start menu and hit control panel, then hit internet options and hit delete cookies, you will then be able to vote again." Another contributor boasts that he "voted about 10 times by deleting the cookies".

Journal Media has been encouraged to put in place measures to ensure that in its future polls, only one vote per person is permitted.

Scientific polls conducted in Ireland over the past four decades have repeatedly confirmed that a majority are opposed to hare coursing. A Sunday Independent poll, for example, showed that eight in ten want the blood sport banned.

13. Sotheby's representative asked to stop using hunting as selling point

The Irish representative of international auction house, Sotheby's, has been urged to stop using foxhunting as a selling point for properties in Ireland. On his website, one property is promoted as being "surrounded by some of the best fox-hunting country in Ireland".

Another property is said to be "within easy reach" of the Scarteen and the Duhallow hunts. Meanwhile, the equestrian facilities for a 16 million Euro castle are said to include a polo ground and "hunting with the Kildare Foxhounds and other local packs".

In an email to William Montgomery, ICABS expressed disappointment that a blood sport, which causes the most horrendous suffering and death to foxes, is being presented as a selling point for properties.

"In foxhunting, foxes are chased to exhaustion, knocked off their feet and violently ripped apart," we stated, reminding him that a majority in Ireland want the bloodsport made illegal as it already is in England, Scotland and Wales.

ACTION ALERT

Join us in asking William Montgomery to remove references to hunting from his website.

Howling foxhounds in kennels next to an apartment complex in Bandon will be relocated if they don’t keep the noise down.

Operators piped classical music into the kennels in a bid to calm the Carbery Hunt hounds, housed at the Old Military Barrack Mill for 80 years.

But residents at the neighbouring Millcourt apartments claim the barking has persisted and is causing sleep deprivation.

They keep a ‘dog log’ record of the worst instances of barking, including Sunday, Jan 29, when ‘ongoing howling’ persisted through the night.

At Bandon District Court yesterday, sound engineer Niall Vaughan gave evidence of noise levels recorded at the kennels over a week-long period.

He recorded 39 instances of barking exceeding World Health Organisation guidelines for community noise (50 decibels) over seven days, five of which took place at night.

Diane Hallahan BL, acting on behalf of complainant, John Burke, a resident of Millcourt, said Mr Vaughan’s results were at variance to her clients’ reports from inside the apartment block, which is a sheltered housing scheme built by Cluid.

She said on the night of Tuesday, Feb 1, prior to Mr Vaughan’s recording, the hounds were howling for two hours from 3.30am. On Feb 4, she said, howling was "ongoing all night".

Judge Aeneas McCarthy questioned whether it made sense to house the hounds in Bandon town but said the residents should have been aware the dogs were there.

"If it was a machine you could turn it off but in the case of animals that’s not possible," he said.

Ray Boland BL, representing the Carbery Hunt, estimated the cost of moving premises at up to €70,000.

A number of measures had been implemented to minimise noise, including the removal of bitches in heat and the improvement was reflected in the sound engineer’s report, Mr Boland said.

"To acquire new land and start all over again, that is effectively outside the limited means of the hunt," he said.

He said residents now seemed focused on the noise of the dogs above all else and proposed one final adjournment to allow for machines to be installed whereby a high-pitched tone will activate to silence the hounds if they bark excessively.

Judge McCarthy adjourned the case for three months until May 14 to allow to see if the machines will be successful.

"If not I’m afraid more drastic measures will have to be taken," he said.

15. Anti-fur demos in Dublin - 31st March

On Saturday 31st March, the National Animal Rights Association will hold two anti-fur protests in Dublin. Please support the protests at:

A shackled "elephant" will lead a lively ARAN protest on Saturday, 31st March to call for the ‘Courtney Brothers Circus’ to stop using elephants and other animals in their acts. The protesters will hold banners reading, ‘Release Neville the Elephant and Friends Now’ and ‘Elephants Don’t Belong in Chains’ and will urge members of the public and potential circus goers to patronise only animal-act free circuses.

"Judging from the response we are getting from the public since Neville’s break for freedom, we can safely say that the writing is on the wall for animal-act circuses in this country. It’s time to reinvigorate a dying industry and start using amazing all-out acrobats and stunning artistic performers," says ARAN’s John Carmody. "Councils nationwide need to take action without delay and introduce motions to ban animal-act circuses using their land and government must introduce legislation in the upcoming Animal Health and Welfare Bill, as the next incident might be more deadly."

When: Saturday, March 31, 3 p.m. sharp

Where: Courtney Brothers Circus, Sunbeam, Blackpool, Cork.

17. Hypocritical Coursing Priest

A poster conveys the hypocrisy of the Irish priests who, instead of practising compassion, engage in animal cruelty activities such as foxhunting and hare coursing -

Causing an animal to suffer or die needlessly is contrary to the Catholic Catechism, yet members of the clergy continue to support blood sports in Ireland. The Irish Council Against Blood Sports is urging Catholic Church authorities in Ireland to forbid priests from associating with animal cruelty activities and instead preach a message of kindness to all animals.

Please get involved in our "Clergy Out Of Blood Sports" campaign now! Click on "Campaigns" at

Maureen O'Sullivan, TD: To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine if his attention has been drawn to the fact that at the recent JP Mc Manus Irish Cup Coursing at Limerick Racecourse that eight hares were mauled over the three days, proving that muzzled greyhounds can cause injury and death to hares; if he will therefore consider a ban on coursing; and if he will make a statement on the matter. (video evidence available)

Written Answer. Ref No: 14409/12

Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Food (Deputy Simon Coveney): Under the provisions of the Greyhound Industry Act, 1958 the regulation of coursing is chiefly a matter for the Irish Coursing Club (ICC) subject to the general control and direction of Bord na gCon, which is the statutory body with responsibility for the improvement and development of the greyhound industry, greyhound racing and coursing.

The Minister for Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht, under section 34 of the Wildlife Act 1976, has responsibility for the issue of an annual licence to the Irish Coursing Club (ICC) and its affiliated clubs to capture live hares.

I have been informed by the ICC that a veterinary surgeon and an ICC Control Steward were present and that a total of 87 hares commenced the meeting, none were injured, 86 were subsequently released back to the wild and one died prior to the final day’s coursing.

The ICC has also informed me that 98.32% of hares netted for coursing in the past season were released back to the wild and that injury to hares by muzzled greyhounds is a very rare occurrence. The ICC has a robust system of regulation in place to underpin the maintenance of standards in the sport.

A Monitoring Committee on Coursing was established in 1993/94 comprising Departmental officials and representatives from both the National Parks and Wildlife Service (NPWS) and the ICC to monitor developments in coursing and in that regard the situation is kept under constant review to ensure that coursing is run in a well controlled and responsible manner in the interest of animal welfare both for hares and greyhounds alike. Consequently the Government does not plan to ban hare coursing.

Question 510 - Answered on 13th March, 2012

Sean Kyne, TD: To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine if the upcoming Animal Welfare Bill will contain a provision to abolish live hare coursing in view of the demonstrable evidence of the harm, injury and distress that such a sport causes to the wildlife concerned and also in recognition that such a measure would bring Ireland into line with other developed nations including the UK, several other European nations and Australia.

Written Answer. Ref No: [14291/12]

Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Food (Deputy Simon Coveney): Under the provisions of the Greyhound Industry Act, 1958 the regulation of coursing is chiefly a matter for the Irish Coursing Club (ICC) subject to the general control and direction of Bord na gCon, which is the statutory body with responsibility for the improvement and development of the greyhound industry, greyhound racing and coursing.

The Minister for Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht, under section 34 of the Wildlife Act 1976, has responsibility for the issue of an annual licence to the Irish Coursing Club, ICC, and its affiliated clubs to capture live hares.

A Monitoring Committee on Coursing was established in 1993/94 comprising Departmental officials and representatives from both the National Parks and Wildlife Service (NPWS) and the ICC to monitor developments in coursing and in that regard the situation is kept under constant review to ensure that coursing is run in a well controlled and responsible manner in the interest of animal welfare both for hares and greyhounds alike. Consequently the Government does not plan to ban hare coursing.

The UK Government has announced two trial badger ‘culls’ to be carried out in the West of England this autumn. Even on its best estimate, annihilating 70 per cent of badgers will reduce the incidents of TB in cattle by just 16 per cent over nine years. Blame for the other 84 per cent (at least) is ignored and the anti-badger juggernaut continues to trample over science, common sense and reason.

We know that unreliable testing, the movements of millions of cattle across the country, intensified farming and bad biosecurity are largely to blame for TB in cows – not badgers. We exposed the contempt in which biosecurity measures are held at three cattle markets with undercover filming in 2011. See the results of our investigation.

To this list of reasons for how the disease is spread can be added another. By piecing two sets of data together Viva! has uncovered a potentially significant link in the chain which hasn’t even been mentioned by either Government or the farming industry. Could hunting with hounds carry some of the blame?

Hunting foxes with dogs has been outlawed since 2005 yet around 172 hunts with dogs still operate across England and Wales. Tellingly, the areas which have the most hunts are also the areas which have the highest TB infection rates - the Southwest and West of England, South Wales and the border between Wales and England.

By overlaying visual illustrations of the two sets of statistics there is a clear correlation: the greater the number of hunts, the higher the rates of TB, higher than in other areas of the UK.

A hunt will typically be made up of 20 horses, 20-40 dogs and quad bikes which race across the fields of about five farms on each outing and often operate over such wide areas that it can include two counties or more. They go out up to three times a week and vary their courses.

TB bacteria can survive in cow pats for up to eight weeks and even longer in the soil. This onslaught of rampaging feet, hound’s noses and tyres almost certainly acts as a disease and muck spreader on an enormous scale.

We have written to English and Welsh Governments with our research and have asked them to seriously consider hunting as a major vector for the spread of bovine TB. All we know at the moment is that the Westminster government is hell bent on repealing the Hunting Act, which will inevitably increase the threat even further.

The scapegoating of badgers is a diversion from the real reasons for the spread of TB, which include incompetence, ignorance, indolence and laughably inadequate controls. We can very likely now add another human-caused reason to the list.

20. Fox numbers soaring and other common animal misconceptions

Yahoo! News

By Adam Parris-Long

20 March, 2012

The number of foxes on British streets remains "stable" despite hysteria suggesting otherwise, new figures reveal.

The People’s Trust for Endangered Species [PTES] said misconceptions over the apparent booming population of foxes across the country are harming the perception of a species that "are easily shooed away".

Added to that, commonly held myths that you are never more than six feet from a rat, that bats fly into your hair and that grey squirrels are responsible for the decline of red squirrels are equally as unfounded.

"Giant foxes are apparently ‘mugging’ people of their groceries in dark alleyways," said PTES chief executive Jill Nelson. "Grey squirrels are eating all the birds’ eggs and rats are apparently jumping at our throats.

"Squirrels (grey and red) do occasionally eat eggs and fledglings, but not that many. And rats jump to escape not to attack. Contrast this with over 5,000 annual hospital admissions resulting from people being attacked by dogs. Or the annual toll of about 50 million birds killed by domestic cats."

So what are the most common misconceptions surrounding animals? Let’s take a look at debunked myths featured in this year’s PTES ‘Living with Mammals’ report:

Myth - The number of foxes is increasing

Fox populations are stable in the long-term. Mange has had a big impact in many areas and populations are slow to recover. Numbers in Bristol five years ago were only a fifth of those in 1994, before an outbreak of mange. ‘Living with Mammals’ found that numbers in urban areas nationally have changed little in the last decade.

The pre-breeding (adult) population in urban areas is estimated at about 35,000; within the M25 there are fewer than 10,000.

Myth - You are never more than six feet from a rat

There are fewer than 10 million brown rats in Britain. In 2007, the English House Condition Survey found that rats occupied four of every thousand urban properties and were present in the gardens of just 3%.

Myth - Inhaling rat droppings or coming into contact with their urine can be fatal

Rats are fastidiously clean unless overcrowded, spending a considerable proportion of their time grooming themselves and others. They do carry some human diseases, particularly leptospirosis, but the risk of infection is low and is smaller from urban rats than those in rural areas.

Large colonies of pipistrelles can number several hundred individuals in summer and can be noisy tenants, but so important are buildings to bats that managing and renovating them appropriately is a big part of bat conservation.

Myth - Grey squirrels are responsible for the decline of red squirrels

While grey squirrels have a competitive advantage over reds and have displaced them from much of England, red squirrel numbers declined drastically between 1900 and 1925, before grey squirrels had become established.

In southern Scotland and Ireland, red squirrels were extinct by the 18th century due to deforestation and habitat loss – those there today are a result of reintroductions. In England, red squirrels were viewed as a pest and almost wiped out.

21. The Leveret's Last Night

A poem by Michael Pattwell

Your first day became your last night.
Hush now,
The night-creatures will hear your mewling
Carried downwind
Reverberating off the hardened earth
Beneath your cold form
Among the frost-stiffened grasses
Where you wait for your mother's tawny warmth
And the blood-hot milk from her teats
To swill around your day-old toothless gums.

The creeping cold is on you now
And day-break will see you dead
From starvation or hypothermia or both
Or a tasty morsel
For a wandering fox whose radar ears
Will fasten on your waning death-cries.

The suck your growling gut aches for
Was spume in the wind
Or paled the crimson mess
From your mother's torn belly
Shredded by the savage teeth
Of a carefully matched pair
Of half-starved hounds
Who pissed themselves with the excitement
Of the kill
That heated the loins of the handlers
To near spurting point too
As they debated with fierce intensity,
Determined that justice should be done,
Which hound caused your mother to turn first
As turn in terror she did
Into the closing jaws of the losing dog
Who thought he was the winner
And celebrated in style by seizing
Between yellowed teeth her frantic head
While the loser, who really was the winner,
Held her rear left thigh
As they tore her panting body asunder
Her fluids flying in the winter wind.

"First kill today" tutted the slipper.
"Always reminds me of a baby crying" replied the judge
Turning the card
Wondering if there was time
For a quick one
Before the next race.

Michael Patwell is a retired judge who has repeatedly condemned the cruelty of hare coursing. Writing in the Evening Echo in February, Mr Patwell noted that hares are "terrified and tortured in a most cruel way" and that "civilisation still has a way to go" as long as "a poor timid animal can still be taken out of its habitat, confined, hunted, terrified and often brutally killed".

22. Campaign Quotes

Mr Deenihan said he was aware of the work of the National Association of Regional Game Councils [animal shooting organisation] on the issue. He added that his department had provided €20,000 to the organisation towards the payment of a bounty to hunters this year. Mr Deenihan said he had requested that as far as possible, special attention be given to Donegal, Galway, Mayo and Kerry, where his department had already concentrated its efforts against feral mink. Mink found in the wild were descended from animals escaping from fur farms. They had been breeding in the countryside since the 1950s and were now found throughout much of Ireland. From "Cost of culling mink 'prohibitive'", Irish Times, 6 March 2012.

An opinion poll on hare coursing hosted by the online Irish newspaper Journal.ie has been seriously abused by hare coursing fans. The poll, which asks whether hare coursing should be banned, has been running for the past few days on Journal.ie. Up to at least midday on Sunday March 18th the "YES" vote" (favouring a ban on coursing) was substantially ahead of the "NO" vote. Then, by Sunday evening the "NO" vote abruptly leaped ahead of the "YES" vote. Opponents of hare coursing aware of the poll were resigning ourselves to what seemed like a sudden though to us quite baffling surge of support for the pro-hare coursing side. That was until we learned that an orchestrated and blatant attempt was underway on the part of hare coursing fans to rig the poll. From "Hare Coursing fans caught REDHANDED attempting to rig opinion poll!", Indymedia, 22.03.2012

The Congress of Panama approved yesterday (15/03/2012) a law that bans bullfights and dogfights. The law establishes fines up to $1,000 The law excludes cockfighting and races with animals. From International Movement Against Bullfights -

An animal protest group is to stage a protest at a circus in Cork city after a runaway elephant was caught on camera in the city on Tuesday. The Indian elephant gave customers in Blackpool shopping centre in the city a fright when it broke free from the Courtney Bros circus camped nearby. The pachyderm, ignoring the efforts of a keeper to bring it under control, ambled through the shopping centre car park before dashing onto a nearby road. It was eventually brought under control and returned to the circus. Footage of the incident was captured by workers in an office block overlooking the scene - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6AR51Jo2Tmw From the Irish Examiner March 29, 2012

Hares would be well advised to remain on the northern side of the Border where they will be cosseted and cared for as a protected native Irish species. By crossing over into the Republic, they face the risk of being harried and hunted down for sport.

It is one of the great anomalies of our land that the two jurisdictions take such a divergent approach to blood sports. A former newspaper colleague in Dublin once observed that the reason for the pervasive political deference to the bloodlust of coursing fans was the annual conclave of Roman collars in the crowd at the National Coursing Meeting in Clonmel – the Hare of the Dogma, if you will! Clearly the bastions of church and state don't give a thruppeny damn for the indigenous species once depicted on that Irish coin. from Who gives a 'thrupenny damn' for the Irish hare? by Darach MacDonald. Read the full article at

I and other opponents of live hare coursing had hoped the issue would be addressed in the upcoming Animal Health and Welfare Bill. But alas the hare has been let down again by our politicians: not only does the draft bill fail to prohibit hare coursing or even attempt to make it less cruel, it contains a special exemption allowing hare coursing to continue unaffected and unchanged by any of the provisions of the Bill.

I am prompted to reflect on more than three decades of campaigning for the protection of this iconic and persecuted mammal. After all this time, I still cannot fathom why some human beings wish to inflict completely unnecessary pain and terror on a creature that is so beautiful and threatens neither man nor beast.

The hare is a graceful, timid animal that enhances our natural environment. The countryside would be duller and less inviting without its magical presence, especially in the spring when those famed "boxing matches" between them occur.

I have seen hares running to outwit greyhounds at coursing events and noticed how skilled in the art of evasion they were when seeking to reach the escape hatch. But I have also witnessed, both first hand and on video footage, those heart-rending scenes where the dogs forcibly strike or maul the fleet-footed creatures. I have seen hares literally tossed into the air like paper toys. Muzzled dogs inflict agonising internal injuries such as bone breakages that cannot heal

I have watched a YouTube video of last month’s Irish Cup coursing event. At least eight hares can clearly be seen on this film being either struck, pinned to the ground, or mauled by the dogs.

How naive I was to hope that our politicians might avail of the new Bill to accord the hare the same protection it commands in the jurisdictions that have outlawed coursing.

These include New South Wales, Australia, which banned the practice in 1953, New Zealand (1954), Victoria, Australia (1964), South Australia (1985), Scotland (2004), England and Wales (2004), and Northern Ireland (2011).

Unless the government accepts a radical amendment to the Animal Health and Welfare Bill to address the hare’s plight, a piece of legislation that it faithfully promised would update protection of animals in Ireland will instead be enshrining the legality of one of the world’s most barbaric and discredited blood sports.

John Fitzgerald, Campaign for the Abolition of Cruel Sports

Lower Coyne Street, Callan, Co Kilkenny

Muzzling fails to protect hares in coursing

Waterford News & Star, March 8, 2012

Powerful new film footage has emerged which demolishes the claim by Junior Government Minister Shane McEntee that "the hare faces no danger in coursing."

Members of the Irish Council Against Blood Sports attended the "Irish Cup" hare coursing fixture, held at Limerick racecourse on the last weekend of February and secretly filmed large segments of the event.

It was a brave and commendable undertaking. The events card on the day, as at every hare coursing fixture, carried the warning: All Unauthorised Photography Strictly Prohibited. Over the years, animal protection campaigners have been ejected or beaten up after being spotted observing coursing events.

The observers at the "Irish Cup" saw muzzled greyhounds striking the hares, pinning them down and mauling them, and managed to record some of these incidents on film.

Two clips from the resulting footage have now been posted on U Tube (others will follow) and they prove beyond any doubt that the hare in coursing is subjected to a cruel and terrifying ordeal, contrary to what Minister McEntee has been claiming and the Irish Coursing Club (ICC) would have us believe.

One clip shows a hare being mauled and then removed from the dogs by a man who runs on to the course. This man is seen sprinting along the course with the hare that has just been attacked and battered. When he reaches the opposite end of the venue, he seems to drop the animal over a makeshift fence.

The second clip clearly shows a hare being mauled by two greyhounds close to the so-called "escape hatch". The hare manages to break free and run through the hatch, though in what condition is unclear from the footage.

The Minister should amend the upcoming Bill to include a complete ban on hare coursing. This would accord the hare the same protection it commands in neighbouring jurisdictions such as Scotland, which banned the practise in 2002, England and Wales, which banned it in 2004, and Northern Ireland, which outlawed hare coursing last year.

We need to call time on this legalised torture of animals for "sport."

The Irish Council Against Blood Sports relies entirely on your generosity to continue our campaigning for an end to blood sport cruelty. Please become a supporter of our work today - click on Shop at www.banbloodsports.com for more details or send a cheque to ICABS, PO Box 88, Mullingar, Co Westmeath, Ireland. Thank you very much.

Keep hunters off your land

Make it known publicly that your land is off-limits to hunters. Place a preservation notice in your local newspaper now. Here is a sample notice that you may wish to use: "Take notice that all my lands at [Insert address(es) of land] are private and preserved day and night. All forms of hunting and shooting are strictly prohibited. Trespassers will be prosecuted. Signed [Insert name(s) of landowner]" For more information, click on Farmers at www.banbloodsports.com

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Footage of blood sport cruelty and the humane alternatives can be viewed
on the ICABS Channel on Youtube - www.youtube.com/icabs or by clicking
on "Videos" at www.banbloodsports.com Please ask your local TD/Senator
to view our videos and back a blood sports ban.